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WHICH GIALLO FLY?

Thanks to both of you for the info. My chassis no 4590 was first registered in the UK 9th Oct 1972 so could be either, given the time to get to the UK and how long it may have sat in the showroom before sale. How do I find out for certain which I need?

I would like it to be painted in the same way as when new. What arguments should I give to the painter to persuade him to do it that way rather than the lacquer over base coat he has already mentioned?
Surely any imperfections have to be polished out before putting on the lacquer coat(s) though? How would the lacquer coat disguise imperfections?

Are original type paints still available? I thought they had been banned and modern water based paints have to be used?

This is worryingly complicated, as the painter has just done another of my cars and I just told him Dubonnet Rosso and left him to it. I'm now worried but too scared to check further!

04590 was built in July 1972 and delivered in Nuovo Giallo Fly 20-Y-490 with black vinyl interior. Your paint shop should be able to source the modern version of direct gloss paint. The original Glasurit paint was lead based which is long since banned. You are correct that imperfections on a base coat should be polished out before a laquer coat is applied but the laquer coat hides minor marks fairly well and is easier to polish up for the paint shop hence why they prefer using it for speed.

If finished in direct gloss you will get the very top layer of colour coming off onto a polishing cloth if using a cutting compound on it just like used to happen in the days before water based paints were introduced and you ever had cause to use T-Cut on a a solid colour car's paint to shine it up. If doing a full repaint make sure your paint shop get the positioning of the lower body satin blacking lines correct. Most do not have a clue where these should go and one highly regarded restorer gets it completely wrong every time. The lines on your car are different to those on later E series models.

There is lots of great information on the Dino section of F Chat and plenty of expert help available for advice. I'm happy to answer any queries you may have having been through the restoration process 4 times now so I know the cars inside out. A friend of mine is a font of knowledge on them from a technical point of view.

That's excellent information and I'm very grateful indeed.
As the satin blacking lines on mine are quite possibly in the wrong position now, where is the definitive place to look to get the correct positioning for my specific car?

If you post front and rear photo's of your car I can determine if it is an early or late E series which will affect the location of those lines. If your interior has been re-trimmed into leather (very common) and you want to return it to original (a wise move with values rising as they are) then you can source the correct vinyl interior remade to match the original from Tappezzeria Luppi in Modena. It's advisable to do this via Tony Willis though as Luppi are not the easiest company to deal with direct unless you are fluent in Italian.

It is a late model E series Chris so the lower satin blacking goes higher. The line along the side of the car comes up above the crease on the sills and stops roughly an inch from the doors. On the front it runs around just above the front air intakes. At the rear it sits just above the surround for the reversing light. Masking it all up correctly takes a lot of time and patience to get right on both the front and rear clips. Here is my GTS for guidance which has the lines at the correct levels for your car. If done correctly when viewed from the side the lines on the side of the front and rear clips should look like they flow from the line along the sill and describe a gentle arc as they rise up which I've shown in red on the last photo.

That's great Iain! I will print off the photos and give them to the painter to guide him.
So glad I joined this forum and so grateful for the info to save me from messing up the job!
Kind regards,
Chris.

I delivered the car to the painters yesterday and he says no problem to do direct gloss. He will also follow the photos for positioning the satin black.
Can you recommend the correct type of paint to use for this satin black?
Where the trim has to be removed inside the car to paint the rear panel, is this glued in place or are there spring clips?
Under the external door levers, there are small black stickers on my car. Are these correct?

Lastly, the car is in Birkenhead, Wirral and the painter is scared stiff of removing & replacing the screens. He doesn't know anyone he can confidently use either. Does anyone by any chance know of a company that can be trusted to do this?

The trim panel on the top of the rear bulkhead is held in place by three long bolts that go through into the engine bay. The trim around the door handles on the inner door panel should be small sections of the black Dino vinyl that was used to trim the interior door cappings, centre tunnel etc. It is there so that you cannot see the paint beneath through the curved finger pulls on the door capping. It should be put back in place when the painting is completed. I can't help out with a window specialist I'm afraid as the bodyshop I used was in Nottingham. The satin black is just a regular paint which your painter should be able to source. There was nothing special about it.

If he has never painted a Dino before I'd be slightly concerned as they are not the easiest cars to work on I'm told if you don't know what you are doing. For example special care needs to be taken with the flange that the stainless steel trim fits over that arches around the sides of the roof above the glass house. If the paint is applied too thickly on this he will struggle to get the trim back on without cracking the paint and giving you a problem in the future. This area needs a thin coat applied. There is also a considerable amount of skill required to get all the under bonnet (front bonnet, engine cover, boot lid) satin black edging lines correct around each panel. Removing the glass (especially the quarter vent windows) is not easy and reassembly is very time consuming to get everything set up correctly such as door locks. My advice would be he takes lots of photo's before stripping the doors apart and notes the positioning of items carefully.

It is highly likely he will uncover rust in various areas once he starts to remove paint. The windscreen frame lower corners and lower rear wing quarters are prime culprits.

Looking at your photo's it would appear your front indicator lenses are not seated correctly which could mean either the sealing gaskets are worn or missing. The lenses should sit flush with the nose panel. I can't see your exterior door handles but on many cars that have had repaints the carefully sculpted ferule that holds the top of the handle in place has been lost by over aggressive machine sanding of the panel when removing. Re-instating them takes a lot of skill by an experienced metal panel worker and they should look like the ones on these photo's.

Hi Iain, many thanks for your detailed and most informative reply. I clearly need to advise the painter of these various points.
The small black stickers are on the external door panel, right under the door handles. I can only imagine they are there to protect the paintwork from damage from sharp fingernails whilst opening the doors. Are they correct or has someone added them at some point, perhaps for that reason?